Conroe PD out to solve metal mystery

Published 4:42 pm, Sunday, February 17, 2013

Conroe Police are searching to find the composition and/or purpose of these metal piece obtained at a local scrap yard. If you have any information, call Investigator Carl Johnson at 936-522-3305.

Conroe Police are searching to find the composition and/or purpose of these metal piece obtained at a local scrap yard. If you have any information, call Investigator Carl Johnson at 936-522-3305.

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Conroe PD out to solve metal mystery

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Consider it a metal mystery.

About a month ago, Conroe Police acquired 1,200 pounds of a machined, bronze-looking metal piece from a local scrap dealer. Conroe PD launched an investigation, but the composition and purpose of the metal remains unknown.

“We believe the pieces are products made for the oil field business, but that’s about all we know at this time,” said Investigator Carl Johnson of Conroe PD’s Precious Metals Division.

The pieces, which fill about half of a 55-gallon drum, are circular and look like oversized pennies that happen to weigh about five pounds each. There are two distinctly different styles of machined parts that Johnson believes are designed to connect and operate as a single unit.

He’s shown the pieces to a number of machine shops around the Conroe area, but none of the experts have deduced a purpose for the parts.

Nor could they determine the metallurgy of the things.

“I was told by one person that it was a combination of bronze and aluminum, but it’s too heavy for that,” Johnson said.

The mystery deepens because CPD has yet to receive a complaint from any company looking for the exotic-looking metal, he said.

“We believe its scrap metal value to be at least $1 to $2 a pound,” Johnson said.

To help solve the case of the missing metal, Johnson is asking anyone familiar with the pieces contact him at 936-522-3305.